Return to reach
by K417
Summary: 2566, the human-covenant war is over, and humanity now longs to mourn the losses from war, the UNSC Rebirth had been created and sent out to recover and restore old colonies so that humanity could expand into the stars. (this is a terrible summary I suck at these things)
1. Prologue 1

1|

The UNSC Rebirth jumped out of slip space into orbit of Reach. David-841 looked down from an observation deck. David scanned the landscape, he couldn't see any signs of life, not that he expected to.

The planet's surface had been razed 14 years earlier in covenant plasma bombardments, turning the immediate area to glass, and blasting dust over the rest of the planet. It had been confirmed that castle base had been destroyed. Now that the war was over the UNSC could now return they're efforts to reach.

Despite the glassed surface, ONI seemed to think there was something worth having down on the surface. The Rebirth's mission was to begin the restoration process, and deal with recovery. Only the captain and the staff involved where made aware of the missions content. The security detail- a team of Spartans IV's (which David was part of) - where left in the dark to the mission itself only that they were to protect the scientists and ONI officials whilst on the surface.

As David watched the still surface, most of the rest of the ship was working. equipment is removed from storage and checked, Spartan's train, and the ONI officers read over all of they're notes. the ship launched probes into orbit searching for anything of use on the surface, meanwhile officers on the bridge attempted to connect to any of the old satellites that where still intact. The ship was gathering as much data about what was left bellow as possible.

A small blue image of a woman appeared on the rail in front of him. It was Vic the ships AI. "Spartan 841, you are required in training now. please go to the training floor, I can see you are not busy." David watched the figure for a minute, he then turned and headed away from the rail. He didn't like being bossed about by an AI. Vic took the form of a Victorian woman, David wasn't sure why, AI choose they're own form.

Spartan training aboard the Rebirth consists of virtual "War games", and also combat training on the Training floor. in simulation the Spartans will usually work in they're 6 man teams. in a "war game" two 6 man teams, who fight in simulation, a certain objective usually kills of opponent team, or capture the objective type. Spartans have access to equipment that may normally be found on the battle field. generally each teams training is based around the weaknesses in earlier games.

David belongs to Able (vanguard) squad. Able is one of the top squads aboard the Rebirth, consisting of E-452, F-841,F-910 K-459, O-534, and R-436. as David approached the training Area he found Rex-910, and Kieron-459 waiting for him, Rex wore his Gungnir helmet on whilst Kieron carried his helmet under his arm. Rex was the squads sniper, he generally preferred to keep his helmet on. Kieron was basically a commando, he preferred assault weapons and was a brilliant shot with them.

"where are the rest of the squad?" David asked as he saw the others. Rex turned "they're already inside" his voice-muffled by the helmet- boomed through his helmets speakers.

* * *

on the bridge of the Rebirth the captain and bridge staff, stood by making checks. The ONI officer stood by waiting for the captain. He had a body-guard; an ONI Trojan. after they're success in the human-covenant war, ONI had decided to use they're own Spartan teams, at this point the Spartan-IV's where already in production and the ONI Trojans where largely influence by Spartan-IV program. the Trojan Program took a separate direction from the S-IV's focusing on stealth purposes, as agents apposed to soldiers. the armor of Trojans Armor is also quite different to that of the Spartans, much lighter, though similar in respect to the Gungnir and Recon models.

The officer was leaning over a data pad reading through data. his eyes scanned through all the information on all the Spartans aboard the Rebirth. Examining each squad in turn in Alphabetic order. he noted individual units on details not on rankings. His eyes flickered across the pages of information. he looked up occasionally checking on the captain, who was still giving orders to navigators and discussing events with Lieutenants. the officer uninterested in the activity of the captain continued to wait patiently.

eventually the captain untangled himself from subordinates and the ONI officer headed over to talk to him. "captain, How long till we'll be able to get to the surface?" the officer asks curtly. the captain glared at him not being a big fan of ONI secrets," a day or so. what will you be doing on the surface anyway?". the officer grinned a little "that as I'm sure your aware is classified", the officer turned and left the bridge. unlike most ONI officers this one was not a high ranking military personnel, or a Military scientist, he was a Operative.

ONI operatives never had a military role. they where usually used as clean up, sent out to retrieve classified information which had not been destroyed by the Cole protocol.

* * *

**This is the first thing I've written in a long time... so it might be a little rusty, but i felt the need to write this up when I had this idea, ideas In this are mostly concepts from me real aside the obvious (Cole protocol for example is cannon) I've tried to make this tie in to the universe where plausible hence the time stamp (reach is a thriving colony again by about 2584, through cannon literature) I had originally planned to set it later, as a result Some of the ideas i had i may not use, as i had planned future tech into the plot (spartan V's etc) this is kind of where the Trojan idea came from.**

**as I said I haven't written anything for a while so I'd appreciate feed back. I'm honestly unsure how long this'll be but, we'll see I guess.**


	2. Prologue 2

David entered the simulator. A new world started to buffer into existence around him. A white flash and then his squad was visible around him. this was an objective type, " capture the flag". the simulator always faced 2 squads up against each other, however the details of each scenario vary greatly depending on the weaknesses of each team.

Fire-Team Able's weakness as far as Vic was concerned was objectivity and speed. therefore Vic had created short objective matches where short objective matches. able's opponent was Fire-team Bismark, who where easily overwhelmed in Vic's diagnosis, so Vic adds AI units into the combat when they play, as a grey team. the grey team where not as good as a human team, but was usually bigger teams of up to 12.

the match was to take place in a small city-scape with close packed buildings of 2 or 3 stories, with red (Able) base at one end and Blue (Bismark) base at the other. grays would spawn at random points across the map, and would not go for objectives. the grey's weren't really a problem for able, David decided. from his post game HUD he could tell there would be about 8 grays.

a message displayed in the middle of Davids HUD.

Match start

objective: capture the flag

Varient: able-Bismark (V. XXIV)

time: 9:58

[ No Re-spawn ]

David moved into action. He moved across the ground towards a building on his flank. when inside he moved up to the second floor, and carefully moved to the window to look out, from what he could see, Bismark's (Blue) base was about 500 meters away he could see that Bismark's Sniper (Alan-514), was up above the base atop of a 3 story building, he seemed distracted by the grays. David was about to shoot Alan with His DMR But Rex beat him to it. he watched as Alan fell to the ground propelled by the impact of the sniper round. seeing they're team mate fall another spartan revealed themselves, David wasn't sure who.

David moved up to the roof of the building he was going to travel across the roofs and down near blue base if necessary, however he expected Helen to beat him to it. as he reached the roof he glimpsed Helen about 50 meters away from the blue base. Helen had just stuck a knife through the helmet of a grays EVA visor. she would get there long before he did. he began to move towards Bismark base. behind him he heard another sniper round from Rex, another Bismark gone hopefully.

A Bismark had a similar idea and had appeared in head of David. David ducked behind a vent, and was fairly certain he had been unseen. David pulled out a knife from the holster on his chest, and waited for the enough the blue went past him. David sprang up and dug his blade into they're neck, It was Eva-613. Eva slumped as David removed the knife.

A notification sprang up on Davids HUD:

Able team has Bismark's flag

David stopped moving towards the blue base. no point continuing. he watched waiting to see they're flag carrier dash past. while he waits he takes out a gray who was exiting a side street bellow him. after a second he watches Jen rushing past with the flag. she wasn't being followed.

A blue dashed out in front of Jen. they raised they're gun but Jen knocked it out of they're hand with the flag. next Jen pushed them back with the foot of the pole, using it like a lance. she got them Down on they're back, then drove the pole through they're visor. Jen continued to move towards Able base. David followed from the rooftops. David Examined his HUD:

Time remaining: 6:32

able remaining: 6

Other remaining: 5

Jen neared the base. she ran inside and deposited the flag. the timer stopped, and another started. the Bismarks had 2 minutes to get they're flag back before Able could score. as David watched from the edge of the nearest roof, one of the remaining Bismarks tempted a direct approach and was shot down by Rex. it occurred to David that he hadn't seen Kieron or Damion since the start of the match. They'd be in the base somewhere or near by. Damion will have set traps around the entrances, Kieron would be guarding they're flag whilst in active camouflage. David changed his visor settings and got up an Infra red display, he scanned the city around him for heat. the clock ticked away slowly the other blues where probably nearby looking for a way past Rex's sniper. people had stopped trying to take out Rex awhile back he was too good at surviving to bother, and if they shot at him he'd only take them out.

one of the Bismark finally appear with just half a minute left on the clock. This one was clever enough to use an energy shield it was probably Bennie-612. David was familiar with all the other Spartans aboard the Rebirth and Bennie was the only Bismark who'd think of it. Rex lazily took a pot shot at the shield. the shot was only to lull Bennie into a false sense of security, Bennie is running into a trap. David looks at the opening to the base using a magnified spectroscopic few. as David had expected Damion had been busy.

Bennie entered the base, a second later an explosion and armor shrapnel flew from the door. just as David had expected. ten seconds on the clock. Bismark had lost round one.

* * *

several rounds later Bismark and Able exited the training room. able had one all three rounds without communication. they never communicated on the field unless necessary less chance the enemy will hear. in the second round Jen had gained access to they're comm lines so that we could here what they where doing. that round Able had eliminated all the Bismarks and ended the match. final round went much like the first, but Helen had been eliminated early on by a lucky shot from Alan-514.

The Spartans headed towards the mess hall. both squads reasonably happy. Bismark and Able know each other well, most of they're members had been in the same batch, and they new each other well. Alan was always trying to get Rex to Teach him, Rex usually declined. Bennie and Kieron had been good friends during the early phases of the program.

the Spartans reached the mess and went about getting food and sitting down.

* * *

Operator Lock was in his quarters. he had Locked Vic out of his cabin, on of the advantages of being an ONI spook. after a few moments after the door closed His personal AI Key. Key was created from Locks own DNA, Key was also his direct connection to ONI HQ. Key too a blank humanoid form feeling that the having a full form was a waste of processing power. Much like Lock, Key was secretive.

"have you chosen a team to support your mission?" the AI asks. lock pauses to think about it. he waited a second before replying "Isn't it obvious?... Able is obvious, they're the best squad," the Captain had already said that Lock could have access to one of the squads for his classified mission. the captain didn't like Lock, he could tell and Lock new that taking his top squad for his mission would only annoy the captain, But he was fairly certain the captain would comply with an ONI official.

Lock was uncertain what would happen on the surface, Conflict on the surface would be complicated, remaining covenant forces where certain, some humans where probable as well, they may not be happy to have been left behind. The captain intended to search the entire surface of the planet for humanity before re-terraforming; which would undoubtedly kill most of what remains on the surface. Lock figured he had a week or two to find what he was looking for. He'd start at ONI bases, and move on to covenant remnants if necessary.


	3. New Alexandria hospital: I

operative Lock had some how managed to get Able from the captain. David was always surprised when ONI managed to pull rank on just about anyone. Able and Lock where en route to the surface. Lock had not told them what His mission was, only that he intended to Visit the site of all old ONI Black sites, Facilities and other locations of interest. The pelican landing ship carrying them to the surface. they where even going to castle base. castle base had been reported destroyed, but ck seemed to feel there maybe something left deep under the earth.

David was flicking through the information given to them about the sites they where going to visit. the first was a medical facility in new Alexandria. scout photos taken shortly after they arrived in orbit, showed that the building was still mostly intact, though everything above the 12th floor is gone, the important part here apparently is underground anyway. they would be staying there for 48 hours before heading on to the next site, the pelican was well equipped for four or five days of exploration work. other sites on they're first trip include: castle base's remains, sword base, and another medical facility nearby to the first outside of new Alexandria. most of the Facilities where ex-ONI or military facilities.

the pelican was approaching the destination; The David can feel the deceleration, the slight pulses the pelican makes to balance the deceleration. the Spartans got ready to depart the drop-ship, the door opened after a heavy clang. the pilot disengaged the engines; they ticked loudly as the metal began to cool. the Spartans advanced out of the Transport; forming a protective perimeter, after securing the area they began to help unload some supplies from the pelican.

they where on the top of what remained of a tall building still mostly intact more so than the majority of the remaining city-scape. Operative Lock was; as always, pouring over a data pad, "we'll setup here, and explore downwards from here." he barked, the Spartans grunted and continued to work. Locks Trojan body-guard was peering over the edge locking for something. the Trojan (David wasn't sure if on it's gender or name), had a sniper rifle propped next to it and a pair of SMGs on they're belt. The majority of the unloading was done, David decided to attempt to talk to the Trojan. "what are you looking for?" he asks. the Trojan doesn't respond immediately, after about half a minute- just as David was about to walk off- "anything, bearings mostly, I don't expect trouble." A sharp female voice replies, "your **Foxtrot-841** right?" she asks, David was not used to being called by his serial number. "David, and you are?" he replied curtly. the Trojan paused again, David thought he could see her blink behind her visor. "**Tango alpha-31**- Sarah" , it seemed to David that she had only mentioned her name as an after thought.

Lock was signalling the Spartans over. Sarah-31 walked past David heading to lock. David followed. Lock explained briefly what they where after, (mostly old research notes and data that may have been left behind. lock did not seem to be under the impression that they where alone, " is there anything we should be worried about" Helen asked. lock shock his head "shouldn't be, maybe some squatters." squatters David knew meant covenant; it was not uncommon for units to get left behind by the covenant usually Kig-yar, unggoy, maybe some Sangheili, even possibly jiralhanae on reach, the covenant still used them back then. the old covenant races where still fairly close, and often worked with each other (with the exception of the san'shyuum, and the jiralhanae), they where also coming to accept humanity, though still generally suspicious, the Kig-yar where most likely to be friendly with humans, especially if they had something to trade.

Lock finished speaking and the Spartans continued to set up they're camp, they had set up a circle of tents, with supplies in one, an operations tent and the rest being for the Spartans, Lock and the pilot. they started to prepare a fire, and Rex began to set up a watch post at the edge of the building, though attack seemed unlikely. the night was peaceful. calm winds ruffled the tents softly, it seemed to David as though the world had been put on mute. he settled down quickly and fell asleep.

* * *

in the morning David waked to the sound of chatter from outside. he was groggy but quickly noticed there where too many voices; not all of which where speaking English. David pulls on his helmet, and rushes outside. surrounding the tent and the camp, mixed with the Spartans where civilians, ragged and rough, the men unshaven."survivors?" David mutters. "yep," David jumps, Rex is standing behind him, "they came over night, saw our ships land, Locks not happy, but they're isn't much that can be done, he's radioing command ATM." David wasn't surprised, new Alexandria would be his location if he'd been on reach. "so what? are we taking them with us?" David cocked his head to one side, watching a group of refugees set up a tent. "no, no I don't think so. Lock is trying to get them a pick up or something."

David looked round the camp, there where at least 30 people, old, young, they all seemed happy enough, the youngest of them wouldn't remember anything better than the world they'd grown in, a strange glazed landscape of shattered building and a technological absence. the Survivors had some technology; limited to what they could scavenge and maintain, energy wasn't to much of a problem fusion cells had a long life, and where pretty sturdy. the Survivors had adapted to they're environment well, some of them had glass jewelry, and carried glass knifes.

David was looking for Jen. he poked his head into the command tent and sure enough the majority of the rest of the team where inside, Rex obviously and Kieron where missing. "ah, good your awake" Jen says as he walks in, "as you can see things have changed, lock is re planning but this is not our problem, lock's going to hand it over to someone aboard the Rebirth", David had figured this would be the case, after all Lock was on a Classified mission. "Kieron is patrolling the camp, and Rex is on look out," Damion murmured, David nodded, the others seemed bored, Jen and Helen where piling over schematics of the building, Damion was tinkering with a console, and Sarah was reading something. "should I go help Kie ?" David asked Jen. "if you want she replies, I think we can assume that they're mostly harmless, it may be useful to have an extra set of eyes on watch though." David nodded and left the tent.

the camp seemed reasonably peaceful, the survivors sat around talking excitedly , they're children running playing games. he was not surprised to find Kieron talking to some of them, the survivors would be curious about what they'd missed. the survivors wouldn't know about the new Mombasa incident or the end of the war, the the peace with the Sangheili or the launch of the infinity; and other Infinity-class ships, not to mention the spartan-IVs. When David approached they where telling Kieron they're stories; how they had survived, where they'd been where they where from, what they'd experienced. some of the survivor kids looked up at the Spartan-IVs, never having seen a soldier of any kind before let alone a spartan, David took of his helmet, and walked over to Kieron, "I thought you where on patrol?" he says jokingly, " and instead I find you listing to stories." David smiles," we have a few we could tell ourselves", David sat down with them and listened.

* * *

**been working on this for a while I've been busy with school and other projects but I've finished this chapter, and should have 4 out reasonably soon, saying that I am quite busy ATM, especially with exams coming up, feed back is appreciated. **


	4. UNSC Rebirth dossier

issued to:

ONI Operative [ -text removed- ] Lock

classified information has been removed

classified Level: 4

* * *

Office Of Navel Intelligence Classified data

dossier of Spartans aboard the UNSC Frigate Rebirth:

Fire Team Able vanguard:

**E-452: **Helen| CQB specialist_| active_

Helen has been assigned EOD armor Due to her close quarter tendencies and specialization. usually carries a shotgun or other close quarter weapons.

Helen is one of the most dedicated Spartans aboard the rebirth having being born on reach herself (though having no memories of it (see psych-report _E-452/[012]_)). she tends to be reckless and prefers solo combat to working with a squad. here acceptance aboard Rebirth was close to nonexistent due to incidents prior to acceptance that suggested an overly volatile nature in her( see new Mombasa "incident report 2565/4521" and psych E-452/_[204])_, undesirable for the Rebirths current project(see CM E-452_[002]_).

Despite her volatile nature she has excelled since boarding the UNSC Rebirth.

**F-841: **_David | support| active_

David uses Venator armor, he specializes in a variety of light to heavy weapons( see "S-IV (12032565)"for full list and capabilities).

David is quite calm as Spartans come. he is earth born and experienced little of the Human-covenant war. he trained at a military academy on earth, and was specially selected for the spartan-IV program (see **[text removed]**). He was an excellent edition to the early spartan-IV program. his augmentations had to be specially adapted because of complications caused by a viral infection (details: "examination F-841/104"). due to the modifications to his augmentations he is slightly weaker than an ordinary Spartan IV. despite his short comings he is still a very capable spartan.

**F-910 :**_Rex |__Ranged specialist__| active_

_Rex wears_ _Gungnir_ armor, specializing in Reckon and assassination With a sniper rifle. he also has some tactical knowledge that have proven useful before in the field.

Rex is a veteran Spartan III one of the few remaining.(see personnel files for details ("SIII:/ F-910")).** [-text removed-]**. his experience on the field was the reason for his choice aboard the Rebirth. he is one of the oldest military personnel aboard the rebirth.

**K-459: **_Kieron | Assault/ Commando__| active_

wears commando armor. specializing in light assault weapons.

Kieron is quite calm and collected, hence he was trained as a commando. he is a new spartan the Rebirth being his first assignment **[-text removed-]**( see spartan record ("SIV:/K-459")). psychologically a perfect spartan, showing no abnormality in any psychological examinations (see psych K-459_[001]-[087])_**[-text removed-].** Kieron is also one of a few Spartan-IV's with special augmentations that increase reaction time.

***O-534:**_Jennifer | Leader/ Operator__| active_

assigned Operator armor, used to a variety of weapons. is also capably trained in a variety of hand to hand combat styles, and communication methods, as well as hacking, and other technology based skills.

**[-text removed-]** she was chosen as leader because of her ability to command and adjust to situations. she copes well with stress (see psych O-534_[104]_).

one of the first Spartans chosen to crew aboard the Rebirth, though she was sought after by several other programs **[-text removed-]**. she personally choose the rebirth though through reasons unknown to ONI. she is a capable spartan and can be trusted with most tasks without fail.

**R-436:**_Damion | explosive expert__| active_

wears vanguard armor. specializing in heavy weapons and turrets as well as grenades, plastic explosives, remote detonators,** [-text removed-]**, thermonuclear explosives **[-text removed-]**

Damion has a Strong resilient but also stubborn character. he is one of the older more experienced Spartan-IV's. he has much more experience than most spartan-VI's and was involved in some of the Post human-covenant war conflicts,(see "r-436 military record"). **[-text removed-]** he was in orbit aboard the infinity during the Sangheili Civil war, and saw actual service at the battle of Draetheus.[text removed]. he was involved in the Ealen IV conflict.

in short he has had experience with a variety of opponents notably**[-text removed-]**

* * *

UNSC Rebirth

ship class: Infinity class warship

length: 5731.3m |width: 851.5m | height: 1051.1m

**[-text removed-]**

Sensors:

-camera optics

-radar

-spectroscope

-LIDAR

armaments:

**[-text removed-]**

complements:

- M12 force application vehicle (warthog)

|- M12A1 light anti-armor vehicle (warthog)

|- M12G1 light anti-armor vehicle (gauss hog)

|- M12R light anti-aircraft vehicle (rocket hog)

-D79H-TC pelican

-D82-EST Darter

-M808B main battle tank (scorpion)

-M274 Ultra light All-terrain vehicle (mongoose)

-M510 Siegework/Ultra-Heavy mobile anti-aircraft weapons platform (mammoth)

-HTUNTING/Yggdrasil mark IX armor defense system (mantis)

crew:

total crew: 17879

navel: 9548

marine: 6031(+1)

Intelligence: 1822 (+1)

Civilian:478

other systems:

-Victoria AI

* * *

**I really wrote all this up to help me write but decided it may be helpful for readers as well so, I've uploaded it, I've deliberately left whole to either fill later or because they seem irrelevant to current project. I may add to this later. next chapter expected by the end of the week BTW**


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